The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

I think it's because they sell their comics. The ones on their own site are a few days behind the ones in the newspapers. This allows them to upload immediately but because the string is semi-random people can't "find" the comics in advance.

Of course this is something that should not be an issue if they use(d) a CMS.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

ContraCorners:
That being said... When are raising your mentally disabled children - as I am raising mine - please drop me a line and let me know how the colloquial use of the word "retard" strikes your ears.

Well, you're the one with the spastic children - my kids are fine. I find the colloquial use of the word "retard" to be extremely entertaining and so do my perfectly healthy kids.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

SomeCoder:
Most of the people I worked with at my last job tended to just assume that the brand new guy would just magically know where things were so they could just truncate paths when they would tell me where to look for things. Or they would provide flat out wrong information.
Combine this with a codebase that was worthy of Codethulu and... you get the point.

So, they were just trying to protect you from the codebase? How thoughtful of them.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

i had a problem with my notebug, so i go to the guy who's fixing notebooks and sits one floow above, the guy tells me to follow the process on the sharepoint

i search on sharepoint for 40 mintues resulting a phone number, i call a phone number, the same guy picks up, logs a ticket and tells me he'll get back to me

he comes 2 days later, put's in his account i click three times, done

i couldnt work 10% of what i do because of this for 2 days

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

I have been unable to verify your error have you tried restarting the internet.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Erzengel:

I shall hereby elaborate for him or her. Are you, yourself, clinically retarded, unable to use neither English nor American, or simply unable to type your entire thought? I would like to highlight the "When are raising" part of your post. You have clearly forgotten to include the word "you" between the words "When" and "are". This is a grammatical error that is only excusable if your native language is neither English nor American, but instead a language where pronouns can be implicit, such as Japanese. However, you often find certain commonalities between the speech patterns of foreigners with a limited grasp of English or American, and the speech of persons with mental defects. This is merely caused by the limited understanding of the language in both these groups and not due to any actual defects in the foreigner. Since you are showing a limited grasp of English or its offshoot language, you, in the words of "Dur", "sound retarded".

I would also like to note that you continue to exhibit the limitations of your skills with the English based languages in your subsequent posts.

I would further like to note that my personal assumption, as it always is, is that you are not a sufferer of clinical mental retardation. It is far more likely that you suffer from the Internet based affliction wherein you shorten your sentences to the point of unreadability simply because you're typing. However, considering the fact that your genes have spawned a child with mental retardation, it does add some consideration to the possibility that there is a flaw in your genetics that caused both the said illness in your offspring, and your own inabilities.

I would recommend that you proof read your postings before you actually click the Submit button. Particularly when admitting to having a child with mental disabilities, however proof reading is always a good habit.

Enjoy!

Wow! You got all that from a typo?

Brillant!

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

ContraCorners:
Erzengel:

I shall hereby elaborate for him or her. Are you, yourself, clinically retarded, unable to use neither English nor American, or simply unable to type your entire thought? I would like to highlight the "When are raising" part of your post. You have clearly forgotten to include the word "you" between the words "When" and "are". This is a grammatical error that is only excusable if your native language is neither English nor American, but instead a language where pronouns can be implicit, such as Japanese. However, you often find certain commonalities between the speech patterns of foreigners with a limited grasp of English or American, and the speech of persons with mental defects. This is merely caused by the limited understanding of the language in both these groups and not due to any actual defects in the foreigner. Since you are showing a limited grasp of English or its offshoot language, you, in the words of "Dur", "sound retarded".

I would also like to note that you continue to exhibit the limitations of your skills with the English based languages in your subsequent posts.

I would further like to note that my personal assumption, as it always is, is that you are not a sufferer of clinical mental retardation. It is far more likely that you suffer from the Internet based affliction wherein you shorten your sentences to the point of unreadability simply because you're typing. However, considering the fact that your genes have spawned a child with mental retardation, it does add some consideration to the possibility that there is a flaw in your genetics that caused both the said illness in your offspring, and your own inabilities.

I would recommend that you proof read your postings before you actually click the Submit button. Particularly when admitting to having a child with mental disabilities, however proof reading is always a good habit.

Enjoy!

Wow! You got all that from a typo?

Brillant!

But seriously friend, if you're going to criticize my grasp of English, you may want to consider eliminating double negatives (such as "...unable to use neither English nor American...") from your own writing.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Erzengel:

< snip >

I would recommend that you proof read your postings before you actually click the Submit button. Particularly when admitting to having a child with mental disabilities, however proof reading is always a good habit.

Isn’t “proof read” usually written “proofread?” I could have sworn that proofread was a single word.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

JimC:
So... Is Jessica hot?

Exactly! No story should reference a female without specifying how hot she is. It's crucial detail that should never be left out. It would make it so much easier to wank off to these stories.

KenW · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

DerekW:
This policy actually helped out our helpdesk, because our goal was to be major d*@kheads and we definitely succeeded this way.

FTFY.

If you feel the need to act like an asshole to justify your jobs, you're still an asshole.

New employees have enough to deal with without morons like you who make it harder. Remember that a new employee doesn't know many (if any) people at the new job, doesn't know his way around, doesn't know any of the procedures for getting things done, and doesn't know many other things - after all, he's new.

And then an asshat like you and the rest of your butthead buddies at the helpless desk make things even worse. You must feel really special.

KenW · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Peets:
TopCod3r:
Here are some examples of programs I have written for our technical support group:
ud.exe (etc).

I like the reg32 - that IS useful. But learning about batchfiles may save you time (and gets you into understanding why Unix people are so attached to command lines).

Way to go, TopCod3r! Another one bites the dust.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

akatherder:
Has anyone ever worked in a union shop? It takes at least 4 groups to move a computer:
Facilities to physically move it. Electrician to plug in the power cable. Network engineer to plug in the network cable. Sysadmin to plug in the mouse and keyboard.

Dude no it doesn't. I work in a union shop... A government union shop none-the-less. It takes one guy like anywhere else and for us they just give us the computer and tell us to set it up.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Why is it that when prompted with a dialog with 2 choices, people will always repeatedly try the one that did not work one second before? The funny thing is, a complete moron will still have a 50-50 chance of hitting the correct response.

LightStyx · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

What it all boils down to is that no matter what you call a person, a situation, place, thing, whatever... it will still be the same meaning.

Calling things gay and retarded will remain for decades to come because it isn't targeting one group of people like the word nigger does. As it can only be used to describe people and not everything else like gay and retarded could be.

As for your arguments for the differences between stupid and retarded...

Stupid isn't necessarily paired with being lazy but more deals with something that doesn't follow common sense with a distasteful outcome. Apathy is more of the lazy man rather than stupid. Retarded simply means "slowed down", however I would agree that main difference is control.

My main point is that you can go around yelling at everyone who uses gay and retarded in such context, but it won't make a difference in the end. There will always be some new word out there that mainstream society gets ahold of and uptight, easily offended people will always complain about it

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

LightStyx:
What it all boils down to is that no matter what you call a person, a situation, place, thing, whatever... it will still be the same meaning.
Calling things gay and retarded will remain for decades to come because it isn't targeting one group of people like the word nigger does. As it can only be used to describe people and not everything else like gay and retarded could be.

As for your arguments for the differences between stupid and retarded...

Stupid isn't necessarily paired with being lazy but more deals with something that doesn't follow common sense with a distasteful outcome. Apathy is more of the lazy man rather than stupid. Retarded simply means "slowed down", however I would agree that main difference is control.

My main point is that you can go around yelling at everyone who uses gay and retarded in such context, but it won't make a difference in the end. There will always be some new word out there that mainstream society gets ahold of and uptight, easily offended people will always complain about it

I don't think that I've yelled at anyone, but please accept my apology for seeming as though I have.

I have to disagree about whether my objecting to demeaning insults will "make a difference in the end." Nigger (or cracker, kike, jap, chink and spic for that matter) didn't fall out of common use because white America suddenly became enlightened. No, those words disappeard becuase people objected. That's all I am doing.

Does society go to far in trying to eradicate hateful words. ABSOULTELY. I cringe and object everytime I hear about some town or school refusing to teach Tom Sawyer and Huckelberry Finn. I don't want to prented that the words were never used, I just want us to think about whether they should still be used.

I can't change the world. I can only think about how I use language and ask the you do the same.

jtwine · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

TopCod3r:
ud.exe - this goes up a directory, so instead of typing "cd.." you can simply type "ud" ud2.exe - this goes up TWO directories at once, so it is like doing ud twice. ud3.exe - this goes up THREE directories at once (you get the picture by now I hope). <snip>

Heh... speaking of useful/useless utilities, when Win95 first came out and supported LFN and spaces in filepaths, the CD command would not handle spaces unless they were quoted. However, it had a little quirk - the quotes did not have to be closed.

So i created a batch file called NCD.bat (New CD) that was simply:

cd "%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

The missing closing quote is intentional. This allowed you to navigate to paths that contained (no more than) 9 single-spaces without having to quote them.

Seems a little stupid but it did make thing easier, specially for people like me that still lived in a DOS box back then...

Oh, and why create executables for the directioy navigation instead of batch/script? For example, UD3 could be implemented as a single line batch file:

@cd ../../..

Peace!

TopCod3r · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

jtwine:
TopCod3r:
ud.exe - this goes up a directory, so instead of typing "cd.." you can simply type "ud" ud2.exe - this goes up TWO directories at once, so it is like doing ud twice. ud3.exe - this goes up THREE directories at once (you get the picture by now I hope). <snip>
Heh... speaking of useful/useless utilities, when Win95 first came out and supported LFN and spaces in filepaths, the CD command would not handle spaces unless they were quoted. However, it had a little quirk - the quotes did not have to be closed.
So i created a batch file called NCD.bat (New CD) that was simply:
cd "%1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
The missing closing quote is intentional. This allowed you to navigate to paths that contained (no more than) 9 single-spaces without having to quote them.

Seems a little stupid but it did make thing easier, specially for people like me that still lived in a DOS box back then...

Oh, and why create executables for the directioy navigation instead of batch/script? For example, UD3 could be implemented as a single line batch file:
@cd ../../..
Peace!

Great ideas, jtwine!

I would have created batch files, but they are against our policy because non-programmers can open them and edit them. Also making the inner workings visible to the end user could be a security risk. Otherwise I would agree on your suggestion.

Erzengel · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Kuba:
What a waste of bandwidth. As if none of us has ever "swallowed" a word while typing. Sometimes this happens on initial typing, sometimes when you reorganize the text via copy/paste. Whatever the cause, you have no grounds for presuming anything. The sample size being too small, and yada yada. Heck, your whole cited posts is just seemingly eloquent BS. Wishy washy stupidityness. Whatever, I'm at loss to elaborate any further on it. -1 from me.

"Swallowing" a letter is certainly plausible as a "typo", however, forgetting entire words in several different locations? That's the affliction of the Internet: shortening sentences until they are no longer legible. When one drops words such as that, they, in the words of "Dur", "sound retarded". I am not saying that he or she is, or is not, clinically retarded, I am merely stating the reasons behind "Dur's" own statement. That is what "ContraCorners" requested, that is what I provided.

I would also like to note that, unless requested to do so by the original poster, as in this case, I do not highlight nor judge typographical errors, nor errors made by foreigners with a limited grasp of the English based languages. I understand that they are human and errors do happen. However, "ContraCorners" asked for elaboration, so I provided it. If you don't like that, "take it up" with him or her for making the request, not myself for providing the requested response.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Erzengel:
Kuba:
What a waste of bandwidth. As if none of us has ever "swallowed" a word while typing. Sometimes this happens on initial typing, sometimes when you reorganize the text via copy/paste. Whatever the cause, you have no grounds for presuming anything. The sample size being too small, and yada yada. Heck, your whole cited posts is just seemingly eloquent BS. Wishy washy stupidityness. Whatever, I'm at loss to elaborate any further on it. -1 from me.

"Swallowing" a letter is certainly plausible as a "typo", however, forgetting entire words in several different locations? That's the affliction of the Internet: shortening sentences until they are no longer legible. When one drops words such as that, they, in the words of "Dur", "sound retarded". I am not saying that he or she is, or is not, clinically retarded, I am merely stating the reasons behind "Dur's" own statement. That is what "ContraCorners" requested, that is what I provided.

I would also like to note that, unless requested to do so by the original poster, as in this case, I do not highlight nor judge typographical errors, nor errors made by foreigners with a limited grasp of the English based languages. I understand that they are human and errors do happen. However, "ContraCorners" asked for elaboration, so I provided it. If you don't like that, "take it up" with him or her for making the request, not myself for providing the requested response.

I probably shouldn't, but it's my lunch hour and I'm not hungry and I'm bored...

"take it up" with him or her

Save yourself a few keystrokes. It's hard to know which to use on the internet, so let me just tell you that in my case it's "him."

I would also like to note that, unless requested to do so by the original poster, as in this case, I do not highlight nor judge typographical errors

Um... I didn't request that you do that, I asked Dur to explain his/her comment. Never-the-less, I follow a similar policy. In my case I don't comment on grammar unless someone is challenging my grammar.

Dur says that I sound retarded based on one post that contained two typos (you didn't mention the first one, but I'm nothing if not honest... there were two). You seem to think that's reasonable. Am I wrong about this? Do you think Dur's assessment in unreasonable?

Whatever you may think of my writing "When you are raising..." as "When are raising..." it was just a typo and it did slip through my proofreading. I am well aware that the dependent clause requires a subject. I'm sorry to have missed it. That, however, makes me sloppy or inattentive; it doesn't indicate a "limited understanding of the language" on my part.

If I were to accuse someone of being unable to do two things, I would likely say that they were unable to do either x or y. You, however, have chosen to use an awkward and confusing sort of double negative construction here. (i.e. ...unable to use neither English nor American...). I have to assume that you meant to write it this way. Someone who is telling me I must do a better job of "proof read(ing)" my post most likely proofread their post very carefully.

What are you saying? Are you saying that I'm not unable to use these languages? That doesn't really fit with the rest of your post. What does this say about your grasp of English?

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

The Real WTF for me is that I'm a Ben E and I have a state job, but that isn't me.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Sergej:
TopCod3r:
I pretty much function as technical support for my team, setting up things like start menu shortcuts and icons.
Amazing! How do you get a job like that?
TopCod3r:
ud.exe - this goes up a directory, so instead of typing "cd.." you can simply type "ud"
You wrote a program for this??
TopCod3r:
mkdirrandom.exe - makes a new directory with a random name, using a random number generator I wrote (I adapted the code someone posted on this site).
I'm not going to ask why your team members need to create random directories because I'm afraid to find out. But why on earth did you have to reinvent a random number generator?

TopCod3r deserves a raise. It is hard to find such excellent help as he provides. He is a true asset to his company.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

In their defence, we also use 8,1,212,5551212 for phones. Our VoIP requires it, too many false 911 calls with it being 9, and problem with the tunnel at remote, offices, so the 1 was required even for local calls.

Cary Grant · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

You haven’t experienced real agony until your child comes home with tears in his eyes from being made fun of, for something that he has no control over, or even understands.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Cary Grant:
You haven’t experienced real agony until your child comes home with tears in his eyes from being made fun of, for something that he has no control over, or even understands.

Believe me, I hear you Cary. Good luck to you.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

jDeepBeep:
Sergej:
TopCod3r:
I pretty much function as technical support for my team, setting up things like start menu shortcuts and icons.
Amazing! How do you get a job like that?
TopCod3r:
ud.exe - this goes up a directory, so instead of typing "cd.." you can simply type "ud"
You wrote a program for this??
TopCod3r:
mkdirrandom.exe - makes a new directory with a random name, using a random number generator I wrote (I adapted the code someone posted on this site).
I'm not going to ask why your team members need to create random directories because I'm afraid to find out. But why on earth did you have to reinvent a random number generator?

TopCod3r deserves a raise. It is hard to find such excellent help as he provides. He is a true asset to his company.

I'm sure TopCod3r's co-workers and management know exactly how much value he brings to the organization. I and many others also recognize what an asset he is to this site and WTFs in general.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

TopCod3r:
mkdirrandom.exe - makes a new directory with a random name, using a random number generator I wrote (I adapted the code someone posted on this site).

Have you seen this random number function?

http://xkcd.com/221/

It's not easy to come up with a better one than that.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

I once worked for the central IT office for a state in the US. My job was Linux support.

My first day, I asked my boss if I could install Linux on my desktop, since it made sense to have the OS I'm supporting.

His reply was, "Sure, no problem. First we have to fill out the form justifying it, then we have to my boss's boss to sign it, then security has to approve it. After that, you have to order it, because it can't be a distribution you download from the web..."

I decided I'd stick with Windows (and I left that job in short order).

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

I have to apologize for my poop (TopCod3r). You see... I have been watching retards play all day and just watching them was so funny, I laughed so hard that I was struck with an acute case of mental retardation.

After much clinching and pinching and swearing, I plopped out TopCod3r and he somehow made his way over here.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

I hate to say it, but sometimes it's OK to go through the official process. In my line of work, we get pulled in so many different ways that if we don't open up a ticket, what we were requested to do will get lost in the shuffle.

That being said, she could have been nicer and opened up the ticket without him calling her directly.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

cool

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

SteveWahl:
TopCod3r:
mkdirrandom.exe - makes a new directory with a random name, using a random number generator I wrote (I adapted the code someone posted on this site).

Have you seen this random number function?

http://xkcd.com/221/

It's not easy to come up with a better one than that.

double quote

paddy · 2008-09-26 Reply Admin

ContraCorners:

I can't change the world. I can only think about how I use language and ask the you do the same.

For the record, I personally use words such as retard, gay, nigger, jap, etc etc, but you can both use those terms and still remain sensitive to the situations they are used in.

I'd NEVER call a mentally challenged person a retard - or use "gay/fag" as an attack term towards a homosexual.

I find it very insulting however when an adult actually tries to tell me what words I can and cannot use because they have a thin skin.

I don't blame you for being sensitive due to your child's condition, but you are an adult and can see the difference between saying something/someone is retarded and attacking a mentally challenged individual.

It's especially annoying because using "mentally challenged" as an attack term vs "retarded" does not change a single thing about the intent of the comment and you know it - so why dress it up in a different word?

Anyone who verbally attacks a mentally challenged person - that is not to be tolerated, whether they use the term retard or not. But please don't try to change the way the world uses language, if we all were so sensitive and shared our own personal distastes instead of getting a thicker skin, we wouldn't be able to talk to each other at all.

I don't really care to get into the discussion deeply, just share my point of view and you can take it for what you want.

2008-09-26 Reply Admin

Did you notice? It was a .hlp file.

ContraCorners · 2008-09-27 Reply Admin

paddy:
ContraCorners:

I can't change the world. I can only think about how I use language and ask the you do the same.

For the record, I personally use words such as retard, gay, nigger, jap, etc etc, but you can both use those terms and still remain sensitive to the situations they are used in.

I'd NEVER call a mentally challenged person a retard - or use "gay/fag" as an attack term towards a homosexual.

I find it very insulting however when an adult actually tries to tell me what words I can and cannot use because they have a thin skin.

I don't blame you for being sensitive due to your child's condition, but you are an adult and can see the difference between saying something/someone is retarded and attacking a mentally challenged individual.

It's especially annoying because using "mentally challenged" as an attack term vs "retarded" does not change a single thing about the intent of the comment and you know it - so why dress it up in a different word?

Anyone who verbally attacks a mentally challenged person - that is not to be tolerated, whether they use the term retard or not. But please don't try to change the way the world uses language, if we all were so sensitive and shared our own personal distastes instead of getting a thicker skin, we wouldn't be able to talk to each other at all.

I don't really care to get into the discussion deeply, just share my point of view and you can take it for what you want.

No, of course you don't want to get in to a discussion. If we were to get into a discussion, we'd have to consider each other's arguments, reject or accept them, formulate a response, ask to have some points clarified... it's a lot of work. It's so much easier to write up a quick little blast and wonder what's wrong with everyone who doesn't instantly agree.

But then, since you've totally missed the point I was trying to make, I guess I can understand why you wouldn't want to discuss it.

You do make a valid point. Verbal attacks against the retarded should not be tolerated. This is somewhat on par with saying motherhood should be respected or charity is good. In other words, we can pretty much all agree that it's true.

It's also not really what I was saying.

Using the word retarded to describe a retarded person is ok. It's accurate, direct and to the point. I use it that way (twice so far in this post alone) and I don't object when others do. As I explained earlier, but you seem to have missed (what, you can't read all 186 comments? You got a life or something? ;-) I used mentally disabled in my original comment because my kids aren't retarded. They have a serious development disorder that is often mistaken for retardation, but is not.

My objection is to using "retarded" as a slang for "stupid." More about that later. I'd like to review your post first (there's one of those damned "discussions" again.)

Another thing you seem to say, if you'll allow me to paraphrase, is that it doesn't matter what words are used in an attack. Mentally Challenged, Mentally Disabled, Retarded... can all be used as attack words. I completely agree. It's the attack that is "not to be tolerated." The actual words used... not so important.

But this, again, as much as I agree with you, it is not really what I was saying.

My original comment, and I stand by it, was a request. I asked people who use retard to describe mentally-able people that they think are stupid, who equate retarded with stupid in that way, to put themselves in my shoes and think about what that sounds like. I won't rehash why I find that use of "retarded" to be thoughtless and hurtful, as I think it's been well covered. In summary, though, it equates a physical condition with stupid in a way that we would never use to equate, for example, quadriplegic with "weak." It demonstrate a lack of respect for individuals who are retarded.

And, despite your protestations, it is an attack on the mentally retard, albeit a small one. I've decided not to tolerate it.

Two last points, then I really must go clean my attic. You wrote:

>> I find it very insulting however when an adult actually tries to tell me what words I can and cannot use because they have a thin skin.

a) Mental disabled children aside, no one could live my life if they had a thin skin. That is not what this is about.

Could you give me an example or a quote where I have told anyone what words they can use? Even the line you left, after sniping the rest of my post, is a request. I ask that you think about the words you use is not a cease and desist order.

Yes, I want people to stop using retarded to mean stupid. Were I the czar of the English language and had the power to end this usage by executive fiat... I WOULD NOT. It's not about wanting people to not offend (and esp. not about wanting people not to offend me). It about wanting people to understand what the word sounds like, and decide for themselves not to sound like that.

Not saying retarded because you're worried about what I think? Well that would be just stupid.

2008-09-27 Reply Admin

You're stupid.

ContraCorners · 2008-09-27 Reply Admin

bg:
You're stupid.

Cool The Algonquin Round Table rises again.

2008-09-27 Reply Admin

All of that JUST for a help file...

havokk · 2008-09-27 Reply Admin

paddy:
I find it very insulting however when an adult actually tries to tell me what words I can and cannot use because they have a thin skin.

Then you don't understand what it means to be a member of a community.

In any community there are rules of proper bahaviour. These rules may laws punishable by the state or may just be good etiquette. In any case, the laws are not set up because one person has a "thin skin", they are set up because many members of the community have a "thin skin". If someone in a community tells you the community's rules for what words you may or may not use, whether you or they have the "thin skin" is irrelevant.

B

2008-09-28 Reply Admin

Niki:
The Real WTF is that Jessica didn't remote into Michael's computer to set up Ben's printer.

But as she was acting in her role as support, she'd have had to connect to her own machine first. Just doesn't make sense otherwise.

2008-09-28 Reply Admin

SPain:
One day I watched them spend $30k on a teleconferencing setup because they had grant money from the state that they had to spend by 5:00 PM. [...] but watching them waste my tax dollars in real time was a new experience.

There are two options:

Spend the money, report results on the useful expenditure, get the budget renewed for later work.
Save the money, enter the witness protection program in order to hide from angry taxpayers howling about the "waste" of their tax dollars, and not get the budget renewed for the next year, then re-enter the witness protection program in order to hide from angry taxpayers howling that they didn't get stuff done when they had already proven that they didn't need the budget.

It's stupid, but if you remember that 95% of the voters don't understand basic business sense, the process is necessary for reassuring them that their money isn't being "wasted". More money is spent "preventing" waste than is ever wasted, but it goes under the line-item "preventing waste" and noone is ever permitted to ask if that's actually a cost-effective process.

2008-09-29 Reply Admin

What I want to know is, what was Jessica hoping to demonstrate by dialing her own number. But then again, given the rest of the story, why do I even wonder...

TopCod3r:
mkdirrandom.exe - makes a new directory with a random name, using a random number generator I wrote (I adapted the code someone posted on this site).

You mean, posted as a WTF? I don't think that's such a good idea... :)

2008-09-29 Reply Admin

"As Ben shifted his glaze"

hilarious (intentional?) typo

2008-09-29 Reply Admin

ContraCorners, I admire your patience and tolerance as you show it in this discussion, and thank you for the effort you've put in. You show remarkable parenting skills, too. Best wishes.

ContraCorners · 2008-09-29 Reply Admin

TomatoQueen:
ContraCorners, I admire your patience and tolerance as you show it in this discussion, and thank you for the effort you've put in. You show remarkable parenting skills, too. Best wishes.

T

Thanks Queen. I'm pretty sure my kids will disagree, however. ;-) Best to you to!

2008-09-29 Reply Admin

but i think this is just a quirky story of someone learning helpdesk procedure the hard way. don't be a baby, ben.

by the end of this, he's learned several valuable lessons:

the dude one cube over from you knows who does what, but is either clueless of proper procedures or jealous and passive-agressive. or both.
jessica is L1 support, and is nice, but not overly extroverted.
the way to get IT to do something is to call (inside extension prefix?) X, Y which is probably tied into a support ticket generator. remember X and learn to ask when you don't know if someone's giving you internal or external #s.
michael is L2 support, and thus all his tickets must come through jessica (or the logical jessica that answers that extension).
requests for AD permissions require L2 administration.
they have SLAs of 24 hours for a L2 ticket.
michael relies on jessica for real problem solving when his memorized solution doesn't work. (tR-WTF?) or he just likes her in his office, bent over his desk when another dude's in the room to appreciate it.
michael wants you to know he's often busy and not to expect turnaround faster than 4 business hours for nonessential business concerns.
your company seems small probably needs to grow.. and look! you were just hired.
you can make a lot of friends if you package up this knowledge somewhere more useful than TDWTF (unpaid product placement: try a screwturn wiki).
don't expect that list to include michael unless you play into to his alpha male tendencies (even if it's just so he falls harder later).

none of this involves filling out forms... i wish we had our HellDesk line tied into a ticketing system. i'm going to suggest it to our new boss! ooh, we could have a "desktop/email/password" line and an "app/bugfix/feature" line. :D

ps - my name is a lie. 4 pages of comments?! tldr;

2008-09-30 Reply Admin

I think the whole mess is the real WTF. The entire proceedure was a waste of time for all involved. And this is where tax money goes :)

ContraCorners · 2008-09-30 Reply Admin

wtf_is_the_comments:
4 pages of comments?! tldr;

Well, some of you people are a little long-winded! (Oh... wait... I guess that was my problem... Carry on then.)

2008-10-01 Reply Admin

I dont see whats so special about this story. In the private sector, if you work in a big enough company these things are common.

Perhaps the reason the technicians want Ben to log the call is because support calls are track-able and provides an audit trail. Its similar to where I work, I have log a JIRA ticket to support even though the guy sits next to me.

As for the phone number thingie, again thats pretty common. In big companies where role and responsibilities are clearly demarcated, people in one team will not bother to educate users about things outside the scope of their team. In this example, knowing to dial 8 and 1 before the number is not the tech support's responsibility to educate users, it probably falls to other team. So they either assume the user knows or at least know to find out about it.

Am I saying this is good? No absolutely not. Its crap, but it is common place. Welcome to the real world. Nothing special here, move on.

Serious Fricken Bureaucracy

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